On Houston Texans DE J.J. Watt's fame

Summary of 2 articles · Updated Apr 29, 2013

I know Watt well enough to know he’s still getting his work done. Watt is Houston's most popular current athlete, and it's not hard to see why. When you’re young and coming off an NFL defensive player of the year season that made you your city’s most popu… (more)lar athlete, how do you deal with the fame? Tania Ganguli of the Houston Chronicle got close to Watt and answers that question in this piece One request for an autograph or a picture at a stop outside the house usually snowballs for Watt. Even on a trip to Ireland where he was largely anonymous, J.J. Watt connected with a fan. The Texans defensive end is charming his town with antics like the above, a fake mound-charge at the J.J. Watt Charity Classic. The game pitted the Texans defense against the offense, and with Andre Johnson, Matt Schaub, Owen Daniels and other notables on the roster, you can imagine that the Texans brass got a little nervous at millions of dollars' worth of ballplayers rolling around on a dusty Texas ballfield. The question is if the attention wears on him over time, and if, ultimately, he’ll go out less and less and people ask him for more and more.

J.J. Watt raises $300,000 for charity, charges mound in softball game

J.J. Watt is Houston's most popular current athlete, and it's not hard to see why. The Texans defensive end is charming his town with antics like the above, a fake mound-charge at the J.J. Watt Charity Classic. The event, held this past weekend in Sugar…